Here are the top five tools I use for my clients when starting an awareness campaign:

1. Jango.com

Jango radio is one of the coolest tools you can use to get your music in front of a massive amount of potential fans in a very, very short period of time. It does cost, but what you get for your money far out weighs the money spent. They have several plans to choose from ranging from about $30 – $150. I highly suggest the $100 plan. You get 4000 plays of your song and this is huge! I am not going to go deep into how Jango works because you can get all the info on their site and it is well described! But I will say that if you work the Jango awareness you will come out of a $100 buy in with a massive amount of real fans, a steady increase in your social networking activity, and most likely a good number of merchandise and CD sales. Click on the Here to visit the site and see how it can help you now!

2. MusicSubmit.com

In my opinion, Music Submit goes hand and hand with Jango. These two tools together simply create killer buzz,  demand, and attention from press, radio, and potential fans. Before I used Music Submit for the first time I did what any good independent should do and did my fair share of research to see what other users were saying. I have to admit that I did find a lot of negative posts from unhappy users. But being in the business of marketing myself, I had to dig a bit deeper before I made a decision to try them out. What I found was that a good majority of the unhappy users were also people that you could simply tell did not do their part of keeping their websites updated, take an active role in social networking, or regularly visit any online radio stations that might be considering adding their music to rotation. Basically, by simply following what these people did online for themselves showed me that they simply wanted a hand out. They wanted to pay for something and do nothing and become huge stars. I then did my research on the artists that gave good reviews of the Music Submit service. Not surprising, these artists were all active online in user forums, radio station websites, they kept their website updated and actively worked their social networking sites. My point… If you are not ready to actively work for yourself and do the leg work to keep any potential fans, radio, or press  involved with your music and activities – GIVE UP NOW! Walk away, go take a 9-5 job with a tie, and forget you ever had a dream of making it in the independent music industry! Harsh, YOU BET IT IS! – But it’s also reality. Now, back to Music Submit….

Music Submit does exactly what they say they do. They send your EPK (Electronic Press Kit) to all the contacts they have in their database for your given genre of music. That is all they do. They are not publicists, they do not actively work your project to their contacts, and they follow up very minimally. But here is the deal, they tell you in your control panel who they sent your package to, when they sent it, and they even give you the contact information. It is your job to follow up, make connections, and make things happen. What you get from their service is the contacts. This is very valuable because it saves you time and effort from having to do it yourself. Plus their contacts are part of their system because they actively want to see and hear about new artists. Again, I am not going to discuss every detail of their program, you can visit their site and get all the info you need. What you need to know is that I do not start an awareness campaign without using them…. why does this matter to you? Look at my track record, my clients get noticed, get on the radio, and get deal offers very quickly! Click here to go to Music Submit’s Website and Learn More.

3. OurStage.com

Ourstage.com give you credibility. The site is basically an ongoing music chart and contest with viewers voting for what song they like the best. It has all the normal social networking features: the ability to upload pictures, music, videos, bio, etc. I really use the site a lot for clients because if you work it right, talk to potential fans, and get your fan base to vote for your music – you will chart high. Obviously the higher your music charts the better publicity you can get out of it. When you are trying to get press or radio play you can use the Ourstage.com charts as your calling card. Press and radio people like to see that your music is a fan favorite! Go the the site check it out for yourself and get you music uploaded and on it’s way to the top of the charts. Click here to visit the site.

4. Reverbnation.com

Reverbnation is Myspace.com on steroids for artists, musicians, producers, and record labels. They offer a complete solution to distribution, marketing, promotion, EPKs, and beyond. They allow you to track your music and how the fans are helping you distribute your music, offers widgets to help you market, opt in email, and much more. If you are serious about getting your music in front of potential fans than Reverbnation has to be one of the spots you visit daily for interaction with fans, press, radio, labels, and more. Click here to go to ReverbNation.

5. http://tubemogul.com/

Tube Mogul might not seem like the typical music marketing or promotion tool, but it is. What they do is allow you to upload your videos in one location and then they distribute your video around the net to all the videos sites you need your video to been seen on. They also track how many plays your video gets, where your video is hosted, and it even updates social networking sites for you. The service is free, however, if you want more detailed reporting there is a fee. I personally do not use the paid version as the free option does everything I need. It really saves a lot of time getting artist videos distributed rather than visiting all the sites one at a time myself. Plus the tracking feature allows me to see how many plays my artists are getting all in one place. VERY EASY! Click Here to Visit Tube Mogul

Conclusion

These top 5 music marketing & promotion awareness tools/sites alone can boost your fan base, social networking activity, and merchandise sales revenue. I seriously do not work any project with clients without using each of these tools/sites. They work, but only if you work them. As with everything in music marketing and promotion – there is not silver bullet or “one tool does it all” available! I wish there was. When I find one I promise I will let you know how to get your hands on it!

More Music Marketing and Awareness Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC In Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”

I know I have talked about it a lot, but it is worth mentioning again for any new comers out there. Jango radio is by far the best music marketing tool available online today. I know it works because I use it with all my consulting clients as well as the clients I personally manage. I just released a single on a new Christian artist I am managing and the results were outstanding. After releasing his new single on Jango we got more traffic on his  website and music social networking sites in less than a two days then we had been getting with all other marketing strategies combined. We got a ton of new sign-ups to his email list and we sold some CDs and Merchandise as well.

If you have been reading this blog or following my music marketing articles over at the full site; www.IamMusicNetwork.com then you know I am totally about DIY (Do It Yourself) music marketing so you do not have to pay someone else and you are in full control knowing what is what, what is working, and learning what marketing is about along the way. I feel that Jango does just that. You see instant results from the songs you release, you see where fans are coming from, and you directly communicate with your fans.

Don’t get me wrong. Jango is not a pay for it, release it, and “BAM” it works. You have to work it like any other music marketing strategy. You have to seek out possible fans, make friends, talk to them, and invite them to your profile. Like I have said about every other music social networking site, you have to interact and treat the fans you meet as real friends and take an active part in their interests as you would an offline friend. But man, with the release of Jeremy’s new single; “The Narrow,” I can really see a difference in Jango and that there are a ton of new users creating their own stations that open up your possibilities of reaching more fans.

For those that do not know, Jango is a website that as a listener allows you create your own radio station that will play artists you like. The station throws in songs from time to time that fit within your stations format and then you hit “add” if you like the artist/song and want played on a regular basis on your station. As an independent artist or group, you place your music on Jango and then pick 5 or so artists you feel your music is closest to or that the fans of “big name” artists may like your music as well. Then, your song is played right after the “big name” song on a listener’s station. The really cool thing, unlike regular internet radio stations that only stream one playlist to anyone who is listening, Jango streams individual stations to each listener. This means your song can be played, and heard, a massive amount of times in a single day.

The cost:

250 Plays = $10
1000 Plays = $30
4000 Plays = $100

Folks, this is nothing compared to other music marketing costs. Jango claims that you will get about 40 – 80 new fans for every 1000 plays. I can tell you from real experience, if you really work it like you are supposed to, you can get about 30 – 50 new fans per day of play. I have not found anything else in online marketing that get 30 -50 fans a day period. The cool thing is that once your music is added to 50 stations you start to get free plays as well as the paid plays. Basically, you get put into regular rotation. But don’t get lazy or cheap. The pay to play option still gets your music in front of more fans faster!

I can tell you to do it, you can think it doesn’t work or this is just hype, but try it for yourself, $10 freakin’ dollars is nothing to see the results for yourself! Once you try it, it’s like crack, you will be hooked and you will see that it works better than anything you have tried. TRACK your results. Watch your website statistics, watch your friend count on myspace, watch your plays on reverbnation, and watch the ilike counter go up…. that will be your proof that it works!

Click Here to Check it Out for Yourself!

Next post I will discuss how to effectively “work” Jango to get the most out of your plays!

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, NOT Yourself in the MUSIC!”